Advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse have blasted the Episcopal Church for reinstating the bishop of Philadelphia who had been charged with not investigating sex abuse allegations about his brother.
A church appeals court ruled July 28 that Bishop Charles Bennison committed conduct inappropriate for a member of the clergy, but said charges against him had to be dismissed because the statute of limitations had run out.
Who is a minister? What is a bishop? From different ends of the career telescope, two Episcopalians, one a bishop-elect, the other a retiring bishop, see the answer to both questions in servanthood.
After six distinguished years as dean of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Very Rev. Terry White was elected June 5 as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, where he will be consecrated Sept. 25.
White told me, “Jesus said that he came not to be served, but to serve. Servanthood is at the heart of our call as the baptized community.”
The Rt. Rev. Barry Howe, who retires in March as bishop of the Diocese of West Missouri, agreed that “all are ministers of the church. The laity are to represent Christ in their daily lives” and in the life of the church as servants.
I am sure that Bible reading is decreasing; the research on that is clear. But is the solution to learn more about the Bible? I agree, it doesn’t look good if a high percentage of church-goers believe the Sermon on the Mount was a message Jesus delivered on horseback. Or that most people can name all four Beatles but not one of the twelve Apostles.
But it seems to me the real issue is not that Christians need to bone up on their Bible factoids. Rather, it’s that Christians need to discover what Bible engagement is; that’s what’s missing in the church today. The question is, what exactly is Bible engagement?
A one-week All African Bishops’ Conference (AABC) will take place in Uganda from August 23 to 29.
This year’s theme is “Securing Our Future: Unlocking our Potential,” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
According to Edward Gaamuwa, the chairman of the organising committee, the council of Anglican provinces of Africa meeting in Pretoria, South Africa in 2001 resolved to hold an African Anglican Bishop Conference to focus on African needs.
The Anglican Archbishop of Melanesia says the church is being called on more often to inform communities of important social and health issues.
Archbishop David Vunagi is in Auckland for the Pacific Conference of Churches.
He says in recent years, the church has been called on to mediate between government and the community.
Members of a sex-abuse victim support group picketed the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania Tuesday to protest the reinstatement of Bishop Charles E. Bennison Jr., who had been suspended nearly three years for concealing his brother’s sexual abuse of a minor.
“It’s heartbreaking that he has been returned on a technicality,” said Karen Polisir, president of the Philadelphia area chapter of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). She was joined by two SNAP members from Lancaster County who were abused as youths by Roman Catholic priests.
In 2008, a church trial court ordered Bennison defrocked and removed as head of the five-county diocese for mishandling abuse by his brother about 35 years ago. However, an appeals court ruled last month that the church’s statute of limitations had expired on the matter, and ordered Bennison restored to his position.
In a class-action ruling, Judge William Alsup, in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, said the San Francisco bank improperly generated excessive overdraft fees for customers by posting transactions in an order that would generate more fees””a practice many big banks have used for years. Overdraft fees are fees charged to customers who run a negative account balance in their bank accounts and the Federal Reserve recently issued new rules that will curb banks’ ability to charge the fees.
A new superbug that is resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics has entered UK hospitals, experts warn.
They say bacteria that make an enzyme called NDM-1 have travelled back with NHS patients who went abroad to countries like India and Pakistan for treatments such as cosmetic surgery.
Although there have only been about 50 cases identified in the UK so far, scientists fear it will go global.
The sales momentum that had been slowly lifting local home sales came to a jarring halt in July, raising questions about the long-awaited recovery of the real estate market.
Monthly home sales data released Tuesday show that 643 area homes sold during July, a striking drop-off from the 1,022 transactions recorded in June.
I don’t have children, but I know from friends who do that, despite the mind-boggling entertainment opportunities available in the 21st century, helping to alleviate their boredom in the summer holidays can be a test of creativity akin to sculpting them in marble. Children still think there’s “nothing to do”. They’re still bored. And despite adults thinking of the phrase “I’m bored” as the whining mantra of the inexplicably dissatisfied child, we adults are bored too. Boredom is endemic. And it’s getting worse….
Does this persistent, gnawing boredom damage us? It’s not a question that’s been asked much in the 150 years since we started moaning about it; even philosophers seem to find boredom boring, preferring instead to concentrate on ethics and epistemology. Goethe reckoned that boredom was the premier creative impulse, and without it we’d never even bother picking up a pen, paintbrush, musical instrument or, these days, a 5-megapixel digital camera. But the average teenager in an average British town on an average Friday night would find themselves hard pushed to value the boredom that’s been forced upon them by modern life. Boredom is the predominant cause of inner city violence, because, tragically, violence is exciting. And that briefest of thrills is increasingly unlikely to be displaced by the prospect of a game of table tennis.
I’m not a philosopher, obviously. I’m just someone who’s a bit bored, so the idea of me offering advice is laughable. But in the absence of religious fervour, class war or complete economic meltdown to distract us, a better way to deal with boredom than desperately pursuing excitement might be to embrace it. Welcome that feeling of mild dissatisfaction.
From Alaska to Patagonia, supporters of same-sex weddings won important legal victories in recent days. And I would bet that ”” despite strong Roman Catholic Church opposition ”” gay marriages will be legal in most countries of the hemisphere sooner than you think.
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Aug. 5 that Mexico City’s six-month-old law authorizing same-sex marriage is constitutional, rejecting an appeal from federal prosecutors. Five Mexican states have passed laws allowing same-sex weddings recently, and the Supreme Court ruling is expected to drive several others to do so shortly.
On Aug. 4, a San Francisco federal judge overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriages, drawing celebrations there. The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, which would decide if gays have a constitutional right to marry in all U.S. states.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/10/98837/commentary-the-economics-of-gay.html#ixzz0wFVortvQ
With the cost of private universities now topping $35,000 for tuition, fees, room and board each year, Americans are tapping retirement accounts, asking extended family members to help out with college costs and keeping kids at home for the first few years of school to cut down on living expenses. One worrisome trend: Parents who took money from their retirement accounts withdrew an average of $8,554 in 2010 compared to $5,318 in 2009.
To pay for college, families are also borrowing more heavily from traditional sources including financial aid. And usage of 529 college savings plans is on the rise. ”Families are digging deeper and taking a number of measures to make college more affordable,” says Bill Diggins, senior consultant with Gallup. “They see great value in college. It’s an investment in the future. Most strongly agree that a college degree is more important now than ever.”
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee, from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of thy servant Clare, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.
Grant, O Lord, that we may cleave to thee without parting, worship thee without wearying, serve thee without failing; faithfully seek thee, happily find thee, and for ever possess thee, the one only God, blessed, world without end.
–Saint Anselm
Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch’orus, and Nica’nor, and Ti’mon, and Par’menas, and Nicola’us, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.
–Acts 6:3-6
When her marriage fell apart and her sister died, Amanda Machin was left on the verge of suicide.
In her hour of darkness, the 50-year-old turned to someone she believed she could trust ”“ her local Anglican vicar.
But, Mrs Machin alleged, the Rev Steve Rankin persuaded her to part with £160,000 and left her ”˜penniless’.
California City With $800,000 Salaried Manager Cut to Junk Credit Rating by S&P—Read it all.
The Federal Reserve acknowledged on Tuesday that its confidence in the economic recovery had dimmed, and announced that it would use the proceeds from its huge mortgage-bond portfolio to buy long-term Treasury securities.
Saying it would buy relatively modest amounts of government debt, analysts said the Fed signaled that it had no intention to back away from steps that it took, starting in 2007, to prop up the financial and housing markets. While the central bank held off on taking more aggressive steps, like a new, huge round of asset purchases, it left open the possibility that additional easing of monetary policy could take place in the fall if the recovery were to continue to weaken.
The Fed’s new stance marked the completion of a turnabout from a few months ago, when officials were discussing when and how to eventually raise interest rates and gradually shrink the $2.3 trillion balance sheet the Fed amassed through its response to the 2008 financial crisis.
Small business owners became more downbeat in July as expectations of weaker economic growth in the second half of the year reinforced a reluctance to hire, according to a survey published on Tuesday.
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its optimism index fell 0.9 point to 88.1 in July.
“Virtually all of the decline was due to weaker expectations for business conditions six months from now,” said William Dunkleberg, the group’s chief economist.
Members of the Mennonite church first came together 90 years ago to ship tractors and plows to fellow Mennonite farmers in Russia and the Ukraine, starving because of war.
Later, in war-torn Vietnam, or when a tsunami ravaged Indonesia or, most recently, when an earthquake wreaked havoc in Haiti, they were there to help the general population.
The Mennonite Central Committee has evolved into a global disaster response relief and community-building enterprise.
Charles M. Crump, former chancellor of the Diocese of West Tennessee and deputy to 17 General Conventions, has died in Memphis, Tenn. He was 96.
He retired from a 71-year career in law on his 95th birthday in October 2008. He resigned as the diocese’s chancellor at the same time, and declined to run for election to the 76th General Convention.
The Rev. Lang Lowrey, Interim President of the General Theological Seminary (GTS) announced today the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, as Interim Dean of GTS, the Episcopal Church’s oldest theological seminary. The former Bishop of Virginia and one of the Church’s longest-serving bishops, Bishop Lee currently serves San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral as Interim Dean.
After the Seminary’s 12th Dean and President, the Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, announced in December of 2009 his intention to retire, Trustees of the Seminary formed a search committee under the leadership of trustee Dr. Michael Gilligan. Upon recommendation from the committee and in light of serious financial challenges faced by the school, Trustees decided in June 2010 to divide the post of Dean and President into separate positions. On June 9, 2010 the Rev. Lang Lowrey was selected as Interim President and charged with financial and administrative oversight of the school and was vested with all the constitutional powers previously lodged with the Dean and President. Meanwhile the search continued for a new Interim Dean to be responsible for day-to-day operations of the Seminary including oversight of its academic programs.